Voices inside My Head
by Imma Gokuu
Summary: Cell succeeded in self-destructing. Gohan is the sole surviving Z Fighter, but immense physical trauma has wiped his memory. Hercule has fooled the world into thinking he defeated Cell as has risen to become Earth's next King. But darkness has descended once again. With the help of a voice that doesn't even know its own name, can Gohan once again rise up to protect the world?
1. Chapter 1

**I'm trying another story while writing Stars, or at least starting it so I don't forget.**

Xx0o0xX

** _Telepathy/Psychic Bond_ **

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

:: The Voice ::

"Simultaneous Speech (replace with thought, etc.)", first person's initialsecond person's initial.

Xx0o0xX

 _ **Prologue**_

Xx0o0xX

Gohan spat some blood onto the ground as he fell to his knees, bioelectricity sparked and crackled all around him. The monster, Cell continued to inflate like a balloon, laughing maniacally.

"If I'm going to die…Then the whole world is coming with me! KUHAHAHAHAHA!"

The young Demi-Saiyan slammed his fist into the ground and gritted his teeth as the rest of the Z-Senshi stood helpless. Gokuu clenched his fists at his side. He shouldn't have sent his son to fight, he knew first had in his fight against Frieza how much arrogance came when first experiencing such power.

A sudden and final expansion by Cell startled him out of his musing. Gokuu phased out of sight and rushed towards Cell at light speed, but some invisible force blocked him.

"I'M NOT FALLING FOR THAT TRICK AGAIN!" The android bellowed. Gokuu smirked.

"Then how 'bout a trick from Frieza's book?!" The Super Saiyan swung his arms in an upward arc and a large portion of the ground shot up into the air with Cell sitting on it.

"TOO LATE FOOL! SAY GOOD BY- WHAT?!" A massive shield enveloped him. Gokuu appeared in front of him.

"Good Bye!" He mocked. Cell's screams became gargled as he expanded one last time. The sky lit up as he finally detonated. The explosion was contained inside Gokuu's shield, but the initial shockwave dug out a massive crater a mile deep. Everyone at the scene was blown a good ways away.

Gokuu gritted his teeth as he struggled to maintain the force field, but it was already starting to crack. Down on the ground, the Z-Senshi looked on anxiously.

The last thing Gohan remembered was flying up with the rest of the Z-senshi, then everything went white.

Xx0o0xX

A huge explosion rocked the area. A young girl fell off the rock on which she was perched. She brushed her long hair out of her eyes and looked around frantically. Another young girl came out into the clearing. "Onee-chan! Something fell from the sky over there! Come see, come see!"

She sprinted toward the giant dust plume, the older girl followed after her. "Wait Miki!" She called, "That's dangerous. Come back!"

They stumbled through the undergrowth until they came across a number of felled trees. In the middle was a small crater, they approached it cautiously as the dust continued to settle. "Maybe it's a meteo-Whoa, ACK!" Miki slipped into the crater and hit her face on something hard. Blood ran from her burst lip and busted nose. She looked down at what busted up her face and screamed.


	2. Chapter 2

** _Telepathy/Psychic Bond_ **

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

The Voice

"Simultaneous Speech (replace with thought, etc.)", first person's initialsecond person's initial.

Xx0o0xX

"Wait…what? Huh?" He slowly became aware of his surroundings; his eyes were open but the entire world was black. He floated upright, dark storm clouds billowed and licked below him.

"Something's not right." He raised his hands to his face, but stopped short. "Didn't I have a body?" The sudden realization that he had no physical form shocked him. He started to panic.

"This feels wrong. Everything here is wrong!"

Suddenly, the clouds opened revealing a sleeping lad on a bed. 'Is that me?' He wondered, 'No, looks rather young for this Voice.'

Despite the child looking dead, he felt a small life force within him. Suddenly, a wave of images flashed into his mind. 'Are these memories? No, I still don't know who I am… but I know _what_ I am.' He began to concentrate on the storm clouds, soon they began to bend to his will. In a matter of seconds, he had formed himself a body, well decorated in a high collared loose black shift with white trims and a golden spiralling dragon on the back. Only the left sleeve was long, the other went quarter way down his bicep, revealing a red skin-tight under-armour.

Checking himself once over, he moved onto the void he was wallowing in. He tried to from solid ground, but each time he did it would dissolve again. 'The child's mind must be in turmoil.' He was snapped from his musing as a woman in a lab coat stepped into the room.

Xx0o0xX

Dr Suān walked over and sat on the chair next to the bed. She gazed at the boy's lifeless face day after day, waiting for some change, but there never was. The voice could feel her emotions and wondered if he could do anything more than just peer down at the world.

Suddenly, the clouds brought forth lighting and thunderclaps quickly followed. The voice felt a small but sharp spike in the boy's energy. "I knew it! He's waking up!" He exclaimed excitedly, Hey, kid! Wake up! The child took a sudden deep breath and started to cough, frightening poor Dr Suān skinless. His eyelids fluttered a bit.

Kid, can you hear me? He turned his head his head, trying to locate the man talking to him. Opening his eyes, he saw a strawberry blonde woman calling out to someone. Kid?

"W-what? Where-?"

I'm in your head boy! Come on, get up! The boy easily rolled out of the bed and onto his feet, once again startling the lady by the door. A young girl appeared by the door, squealing giddily, which to him, sounded extremely unpleasant. He didn't know why he was here, nor did he want to be there. As if by second nature the boy jumped out the window and took off into the forest. It didn't take him long to run a good distance, so when he reached the first clearing he sat on a rock and started rubbing his temples. He searched his memory for anything that might help him, but he drew blanks. Everything was blank.

Kid. The Voice called out. The boy tried desperately to locate where it was coming from. You need to calm do-

"Who are!?" He cried out.

I'm a deity. He said simply, "Other than that, I am like you, no memories, and no name."

The boy recoiled at the word deity. A god? Inside his psyche? His head was already hurting as it stood, he didn't need anything else to think about. With nothing else to do, he adopted a meditative position and tried to clear his mind.

The Voice stood and watched as the storm clouds receded into calm rolls. With a flick of his wrist, the clouds gave way to landscape. Soon, he was standing in an infinite plain of soft, green grass. Some ways in front of him, a spring churned up white puffed clouds in the centre of a crystal-clear pond. He tried to see his reflection, but every time he did, the clouds would obscure his face. Cursing silently, he went back to observing his charge.

Xx0o0xX

Lime was rummaging through the underbrush looking for forest medicinal herbs. She had been at it for hours, yet only half the basket was full. She usually didn't have the patience to do this, but it was for the boy they had saved.

 **[FLASHBACK]**

"AUNTIE SU!" The sudden outburst startled the woman, she rushed outside to see the cause of the commotion.

"Lime?! Why are you screami…" She stopped short as she beheld the scene before her: Her niece and daughter were covered in blood, so was her father, and two of the teens from the village were holding up a glowing blonde-haired child. "Oh, God… GET HIM INSIDE!"

Mr. Lou assisted the two boys to carry him to the clinic. By now a crowd had gathered, wondering what happened. Suān turned to the two girls, "What happened?"

Miki started to sob slightly, Suān noticed her nose was bleeding actively. "W-We found him, out in the f-fields." Lime answered, "He was in a crater…Miki fell in when we tried to get close." She indicated to her cousin's nose.

"But why is he glowing?"

"He does that."

"What?"

Lime fidgeted slightly, "He was glowing when he came to our village before the Cell Games… When I called his name, he screamed and turn blonde and started to glow again."

"What's is name?"

Lime hesitated for a bit, "Gohan."

 **[END]**

By the time they had reached inside, Suān's colleges had already started to treat Gohan's wounds. Lime thought back to when he had first come to her village, when he'd saved her, how strong he looked, only to see he next as a broken, bloodied body. It hurt. Continuing her search, she came across a clearing and slammed into something hard. Looking up, she realized what, or who, she'd just slammed into: Gohan, up and about, and as healthy as ever.

Gohan recoiled slightly. This was the girl from back then! He backed away slightly and inspected the girl. This one had lighter hair and darker eyes, and from her energy, he knew she was a bit older. She was trembling, falling tears framed her face, and he could've sworn she mumble 'Rice' as she approached him.

"You're awake." She said, voice still shaking.

"Who…are you?" Those words cut through her like a knife.

"You don't remember me?" He nodded in the negative, she bowed her head and sobbed slightly.

"Hey now," he started, "please don't cry. I don't remember a lot of things."

She looked up at him, "Huh?" He approached her tentatively and she allowed him to wipe the tears from her face.

"What's your name?"

"Lime."

"Do you know mine?"

"…The doctors call you Rei. It means Zero."

"…"

Lime looked away briefly before continuing. "We should ge-"

"You didn't answer me." Rei said grabbing onto her arm. "What's my name?"

She began sob again. "I know you know it. Tell me." He demanded gently. She tried to wrench herself out of his grip, but he pulled her closer to his body. "Tell me."

She turned her head away defiantly. Rei sighed, he back but kept a weak grip on her arm. He could hear the Voice laughing at him. She gripped his hand and gazed up at his face. "Your eyes are an orange-pink colour," she said, "they used to be black…or teal at times."

"Hah?" Rei looked at her, completely confused. It made her giggle. She began to pull him toward the woods.

"Let's go back… You've missed a lot."

By the time they had reach the village, Lime had filled him on everything that had happened; how he'd saved her, his blonde-haired form and super powers, the Cell games and how Earth's new king came into power. When they returned, Rei apologized for running off. Now that he was awake, Dr Suān offered him a place with her family until his memory returned. So over the next few years, Lime and Mikki re-taught Rei everything he had missed, all the calamities from King Piccolo and the fall of the Red Ribbon Army to the Cell Games, including research and data about alien attacks leaked from Capsule Corp and various Government agencies.

Suān soon realized that Rei was even farther from the point of normal than she initially though. He was smarter than any normal person. He didn't need any academic coaching what so ever, in fact, he helped his new sisters with _their_ work instead. Sometimes, she'd find him talking to someone called Susanoo and she was convinced it was due to his fall, though he kept on swearing Susano'o was real. Another strange thing about him was that he would suddenly fall asleep for almost a month at a time for no apparent reason. It posed no threat to his health, and eventually, he developed a system to decrease the length of his episodes.

And just like that, three years passed.

Xx0o0xX

A 15-year-old Rei slammed his fist into the alarm clock on the bed. Groggily, he sat up, inadvertently pushing his youngest sister off to one side. "You're a terrible bed mate Mikki." He said taking into the surroundings, "Where are we?"

'Better question would be why are you in my bed.'

"Herculopolis. You know, in the Victory Kingdom?" She said, rubbing her face, "You've been asleep for six months you know, right? School starts today, Nee-chan went ahead."

The rest of the morning flew by in the usual manner, with thieves being thieves, and Rei being Rei. He had lost track of Mikki by the time he was finished, so he sought out her energy and immediately located the school.

Some back-ground information about the world as they knew it: Ever since the Cell Games, giant chunks of the crust began to levitate anywhere between 2-4km in the sky and were hence declared continents. Victoria Continent, however, was the only one that met the size criteria for being a continent; 0.5% larger than the Australia that existed in the A.D era. It floated the highest. It was also the only one that didn't move, the other three, Fubuki, Diablo Plateau and Freedom Continent all orbited the planet and were estimated to pass under or near Victoria once a year.

Apparently, the old king, some dog named Furry was booted down to a senate position and replaced by the guy who "beat" Cell. Hercule, was it? Rei never met the guy, and he kinda didn't want to either. He landed in an alley behind Victory Academy and walked the rest of the way. He was searching for the energies of his younger sisters, but soon became self-conscious of all the looks he was getting. A lot of people were just staring as if he had grown a tail, and he had to physical hold his left arm to stop himself from checking. Locating Lime's signature, he made his way towards it as quickly as possible. In his haste, he rounded a corner and slammed into a hooded girl.

Rei himself was unaffected by the collision, he looked down and saw a beautiful black hair young woman right in front of him. Snapping out of his momentary trance, Rei extending his hand to help her.

"Are you alright?" He asked, "I didn't see you there, sor-"

He never got to finish his sentence as his hand was violently slapped away. The brunette standing next to her glared fiercely at him. The downed girl quickly got up by herself and fixed her hood, never breaking eye contact with him. The brunette raised her hand to slap him, but a blonde male who was standing nearby stopped her.

"Hands off Sharpner!" She hissed.

"But he didn't mean it, Viv." Sharpner replied, "Besides, he tried to apologize."

The blonde was well built for his age, standing only a few centimetres shorter than Rei. Sharpner noticed how on-edge the teen before them looked. His hands were still at his side, but he was poised to defend himself. He eyed the girl in front of him. When the boy suddenly shifted his focus to around his chest level, Sharpner noticed the other blonde peeking out from behind him.

"Hmmm, you a new student, cutie? Never seen you around here." She said, smiling brightly. She skipped over and looked up at him, giggling as he tensed up even more. "Rather than cute…You're actually _really_ hot."

She reached up to touch him, but he stepped back to avoided it, a heavy blush on his face.

"Oi, leave him be, Erasa." Sharpner said, "you'd freak out too if you were hit on by an over-eager stranger."

Erasa pouted, making Rei laugh, despite himself, as he turned to leave.

"Wait! What's your name?" Erasa asked.

"Rei." He called back.

Xx0o0xX

The opening ceremony had come to an end. Students were allowed to roam and familiarize themselves with the campus. Those that had yet to collect their books and uniform. The females wore a black pleated skirt with the last inch dyed gold, stockings or long black socks, a long sleeve white blouse, a black bow and a red button down cardigan. The male uniform consisted of black dress pants, a long sleeve white dress shirt, a black tie and a red pull-over cardigan.

Not able to do well with crowds, Rei secluded himself in a small grove of tree. He felt his sisters' energies interact with those around them. Their friends had also looked at him funny, and he wasn't in the mood to be segregated by anyone, so he segregated himself. He was so preoccupied that he barely noticed the small black-haired girl from earlier arriving. She didn't notice him, and left as quickly as she came.

Xx0o0xX

Videl hopped a rail and quickly ducked underneath a suspended walkway. She was waiting for a certain annoyance to pass her.

"Hime-sama, where are you?" The brunette earlier identified as Viv called out. "Please stop wandering off by yourself!"

Not in the mood to deal with Vivian any longer, Videl snuck back the way she came. She passed through a small grove of trees and paused to make sure she wasn't followed. She then walked out briskly to the rendezvous point she'd set with her only two friends.

Truthfully, she wanted to apologize to the boy from earlier, but he had run off and she couldn't find him after the opening ceremony, which was surprising considering how much he stood out. When she met up with her friends, they assured her that she would find him at the social that night since all students had to attend.

Xx0o0xX

Rei sighed as he looked into the mirror. He knew his hair had streaks of red in it, but over the six months he had slept, they had become a bright red. His eyes went from being black to a heterochromatic collage of reds, oranges, and greys perfectly blended that it looked too good to be natural. Mikki had apologized on behalf of her friends, saying that they were simply mesmerized by his eye colour and they had no intention of being rude.

He checked mentally to see if Susano'o was awake, or if he was ignoring him on purpose. After reaching no definitive answer, Rei fixed his collar and headed out to work.


	3. Chapter 3

** _Telepathy/Psychic Bond_ **

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

The Voice

"Simultaneous Speech (replace with thought, etc.)", first person's initialsecond person's initial.

Summer vacation means video games and writing fanfic. If anyone tells you university is supposed to be fun, punch them in the face.

Xx0o0xX

The Academy had a form of social event on the night of the entrance ceremony. Thanks to Rei's spartan tutelage, the three got into with full-ride scholarships. Unfortunately, Rei's insanely high metabolism meant that they had to earn money on the side for food. The result? Rei working the non-alcoholic section of the bar. Wearing a form fitting white dress-shirt with the first two buttons undone, and a waistcoat over it, his female peers looked at him as if he were an exotic animal.

All-in-all, it was a better way to socialize than being out on the floor, he talked to a lot of the girls who were just there to watch him, and his polite nature won over some of the jealous male onlookers. Lime passed by every now and then with her friends. Mikki, however, being in the middle school section, had a harder time sneaking over to where the high schoolers were.

As the evening went on, Rei looked over the information he had gathered. The academy was a result of merging multiple other schools, Orange Star Highschool being the central pillar. The Hime-sama declined to attend the official royal academy on Fubuki because she dislikes the stuck-up nobles. She only really hung out with a few of her old middle school friends.

'He~h, so she's completely unlike her father.'

He continued to survey the floor, Lime had been with some of her city friends and he could feel Mikki's energy surrounded by a bunch of younger girls. Popular as always, that child.

"Geh!" His peaceful atmosphere was broken in an instant. Looking to his left, he saw someone and unconsciously flinched.

Xx0o0xX

Videl was wandering around greeting the new students, as the princess it was her duty to at least make some form of impression. Now, her cheeks hurt from all the fake smiling. It didn't help that Vivian was scaring away all the boys who approached her because that made the some of the girls hesitant to even approach.

She now walked along side Sharpner and Erasa, her two childhood friends. The two of them were her moral support through everything that had happened in these hectic three years.

Quite a turnout this year, huh?" Sharpner commented.

"Un, there is always a boom in applications whenever Videl changes schools." Erasa chirped. "They're all too scared to approach her though, thanks to a certain somebody."

She poked Vivian's cheek as she said this. Said girl's response was only to turn her head while mumbling about something. It's not like they didn't understand where her hostility was coming from, in the years proceeding Videl's becoming the princess, many people approached her with false friendships. She'd had her share of broken hearts as well.

The four wandered aimlessly until something caught Erasa's attention. Well, someone.

"Oooh! The cutie from this morning!" She squealed while shaking Videl's arm. She looked over and saw a familiar flame-headed boy working the bar. He suddenly looked to his left and visibly flinch when Erasa winked and waved at him.

"A~nd you traumatized him." She said lightly, but the blonde had already started to make her way over so she followed behind her quietly. Seeing the princess and her entourage approaching, the students at the bar shifted to give them a wide berth, so much so that it stung Videl deeply. Sharpner showed the boy an apologetic gesture and pulled Erasa away from the counter.

"You're a new entrant, right?" She chirped, shadow writing the kanji on the bar counter, "Ray, was it?"

"Close, but no cigar." He replied while writing the character for zero, never once taking his weary eyes off the overfriendly blonde in front of him.

Retreating from the counter to dry a rack of cocktail glasses, he began to eye Videl and company. He first made eye contact with Erasa, but broke off after she started sending him suggestive glances. Next was Sharpner, to whom he gave a curt nod. He gave a passing glance to Videl before looking at Vivian. He gave her a warm smile, but she scowled and glared at him in response.

'Ah, his smile cramped.' Videl smiled lightly at his naivety. Looking at him work, she couldn't help but notice the fleeting glances he was sending her. His eye movements were quick, and considering how well he was multitasking, no-one but her probably noticed. Yet another one of Vivian's victims.

Then an idea struck her. Rather than say this was for public appearance, it was more to sate her innate curiosity about the teen boy in front of her. She smiled and beckoned him over to her.

Xx0o0xX

Scary! That brunette girl is scary!

That was pretty much the only thought running through Rei's head after making contact with her. If memory served, her name was Viv according to the tall blonde male, Sharpner. He remembered Erasa too, but for an all too different reason. Sitting at the bar between those three was the crown princess, Videl. Her energy signature matched the hooded girl he had run into that morning. Pictures really didn't do her justice, even Rei who was brought up with minimal female interaction could tell that she was _absolutely_ gorgeous. So much so that he kept sending quick glances in her direction. The most heart throbbing thing was that she was staring right back at him.

Was she just bored? Was she angry about this morning?

Did she notice you looking at her? Sano'o put in his two cents. Oh, you were awake?

She then suddenly smiled and called him over. 'So, she really did see.'

He approached and bowed slightly while addressing her. "U-um, and what might Oujo-sama want with me."

[Oujo: literally, King's daughter. Now-a-days, it means the Boss' daughter so I only used it to highlight his nervousness | Himegimi: Lesser Princess or Dutchess | Hidenka: Her royal highness (through marriage) _or_ Crown Princess | Denka: Non-sovereign royalty (military states) | Hime: Broadest use. Can refer to any high noble woman.]

She looked at his polite, but nervous disposition and scoffed lightly. "Nothing. I just called out to you impulsively because I was bored."

"I'm not serving any alcohol." He replied without skipping a beat. He shifted from polite to stern and business-like so quickly that Sharpner choked on his laughter.

Still laughing, Sharpner wheezed out a question "H-how many…?"

"Only the entire 3rd year group." He said, running his hand through his two-toned hair. "Not to mention the 1st and 2nd year who tried to flaunt fake IDs."

"And why do you know this?" Videl looked at Sharpner suspiciously.

"My older brother wasn't a saint, okay?"

"Neither are you apparently." Rei pointed, earning a good-natured laugh from the blonde in question. As the two conversed more, Videl came to realize that Rei wasn't like most of the other kiss-ups she'd met that night. But he seemed strained and nervous the more he tried to be polite.

That wasn't the only reason she wanted to speak with him though. A tomboy before a princess, even Videl had to admit that Rei was by far more handsome than anyone she had met. Maybe it was his exotic appearance, but something just attracted her. Not being born royal meant that Videl was known for getting along well with commoners. In fact, she identified with them more than she did with the other born royals.

Looking at the Bar Mistress, Videl pointed at Rei. Startled, she stared blankly for a moment before coming back to her senses and nodded vigorously.

Turning back to address her pose, she got up and sent Rei a glance, "Let get going. You too." Smiling at his panicked reaction she began to walk away.

"May I be bold enough as to ask why?"

He was protesting, following her none the less. She turned to him and said, "I told you. I'm bored and impulsive."

Xx0o0xX

The characters are completely different from the original DBZ. I thought it would be a good twist.


	4. Chapter 4

** _Telepathy/Psychic Bond_ **

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

The Voice

"Simultaneous Speech (replace with thought, etc.)", first person's initialsecond person's initial.

Xx0o0xX

Stepping outside onto balcony overlooking most of the city, Videl let out a tired sigh. Rei was standing some distance away observing her.

"You can speak freely you know?" She said loosely, shooting down any protest from Vivian. Erasa and Sharpner also looked at her funny. Rei rubbed the back of his and looked down at the ground.

Heh, she caught your act kid.

He locked eyes with the princess and passed his hand over his face. "Tired of pretending, Hidenka-chan?"

"Because you don't look like the typical boot-licker." She said, pleased that she got him to open up somewhat. His tone was still semiformal, but friendlier.

"I see no reason to suck up to a princess who's more comfortable around commoners than royalty."

She sent him a quizzical glance, puzzled as to how he knew that. He motioned with his hand as if he were pulling a hood over his head. She thought back to that afternoon's collision, looking at him now, he really was well-built. Her face heated up slightly.

"You saw through that, huh?"

"My younger sisters pull the same shit." It wasn't exactly a lie, he could tell right away, her energy signature also matched.

"You have little sisters?" Erasa chirped, finally finding a way into the conversation now the Rei wasn't on guard anymore. "Are they as cute as you?"

He pointed over to an adjacent balcony. "You be the judge." Looking over, they saw a mixed group of students ranging from 2nd year middle school to 1st year high school mingling amongst themselves, apparently having gathered after they'd seen the Princess. Among the group were a few of Rei's new friends, and two beautiful look-alikes.

"The red-heads?" Lime and Mikki were standing together, talking to a group of girls who looked like they were from Fubuki. Rei let out a shrill, but almost inaudible whistle. Almost immediately, the shorter one's head snapped in his direction. The older one soon followed, and so did the rest of the girl out of curiosity.

Erasa lightly bounded over to Rei and waved energetically at them. The younger girl waved back just as energetically, while her elder gave a curt bow. They turned back to their own business, smiled cramped as the group they were with went into a slight frenzy.

Rubbing the back of his head, Rei turn back to Videl. "Neither of them have any interest in royalty, sorry."

"It's fine." The less suck ups, the better.

"Does your entire family have red hair?" Sharpner asked, "Does that mean you're from Diablo Plateau?"

"Fubuki." He enunciated. "Hair colour isn't a definitive characteristic of race, you know. It's not like all blondes are from Scandinavia. Ah… That's probably still on the surface."

He pulled on the bangs hanging over his forehead. To him, it looked like someone splashed him with blood, the red ever encroaching on the black. Well, his sisters liked it, so he left it as is.

"Then you're Japanese?" Erasa asked, walking over to him and running her slender fingers through his hair.

"…Probably." He replied.

"Probably?" Videl asked, raising an eyebrow. "How can you not know for sure?"

Rei lifted an arm and started scratching the back of his head, but he didn't answer.

"Were you adopted or something? Surely there are records of you somewhere, if not up here, then down on the surfa-"

"Retrograde amnesia." He interrupted, "Can't remember where I came from if I can't remember my own name now can I, _Hime-chan_."

He finished speaking with a smile, but it never reached his eyes.

"That's…unfortunate." She said. She'd almost said interesting, but figured it would be in poor taste, especially to someone she barely knew.

"Oh, you poor thing!" Erasa said, pressing his arm into her ample bosom. He wasn't sure if she was doing it on purpose, but Rei got a good view of her cleavage before shifting his eyes.

Her shameful display made her two female friends frown and flush in embarrassment. Vivian, who was quiet since earlier voiced her complaints. "Erasa! You're in public, behave yourself!"

Said girl only pouted and replied, "I'm just being friendly."

"You're being handsy!" She corrected harshly in a sharp whispered, "You tried to touch him earlier at school too!" She moved closer to pry the blonde off.

Erasa just folded her arms and stuck out her tongue at the brunette, "It's better than hitting him!" At that Vivian turned a bright red and stuttered something incomprehensible. She was close enough for Rei to smell her rose perfume. Looking at her closely, was the tallest of the three girls, about five inches shorter than him given her heels. Her skin was also some levels darker than theirs, a tan-olive instead of fair white. Seemingly feeling his eyes on her, Vivian turned and unintentionally locked eyes with him. Her eyes were a rare caramel brown, her wavy mocha brown hair cascaded down her back, covering her right ear. The dress she wore accentuated a figure womanlier than her age suggested, and despite her modest neckline, she was probably almost as busty as Lime. Cheeks reddening ever so slightly, she broke contact at turned away.

"Stop staring." She huffed, in an attempt to quell her embarrassment. Glancing back at the boy, she saw a slight smile.

"Beautiful flowers were meant to be admired." He replied with a cheeky grin. All three girls blushed like mad at the comment and Sharpner let out a low whistle.

"Damn, you're smooth." He commented. "The last dude caught staring got two black eyes."

"Well, roses _do_ have thorns." Rei added, watching her blush even harder. "But I think Pride of Barbados does her more justice."

Vivian felt like her face was on fire. This boy obviously found it fun to tease her, but he did it so innocently that she found it impossible to get angry like she usually did. Turning away more, she noticed Videl smirking at her, a suggestive expression on her face.

"What flower am I, Rei?" She asked in a sing-song voice.

"Most definitely a white rose, I can tell that much. A pure personality under a thorny façade." His answer made her blush and smile, however, she did take note that he considered her childhood friend to have more of an exotic beauty than she did.

Erasa clasped her hands in front of her and squealed slightly, "Me too, me too!"

Rei looked at her for a bit. "You are complicated." This girl was by far the most touchy-feely that he'd ever encountered, even more so than Mikki. But, despite that, Rei could sense no ill intent from her. "Mmm, pink bougainvillea?"

Sharpner for one, only knew one of the flower Rei mentions, but the fact the he got the two toughest girls on Victoria blushing like girls in love was an impressive fete. Even his sister, who changed boyfriend more than change outfits wasn't immune to his charm. The scary part was that Sharpner didn't know if he was doing out of naivety, or if he was secretly suave.

The group conversed a while longer, until an aged man in a three-piece suit accompanied by a detail of soldiers appeared at the archway leading to the balcony.

"Hime-sama, your father requests that you return home." The steward said, bowing. Videl sighed and started moving towards him and the guards. Stopping just short of the threshold, she turned around to address Rei one last time.

"Thanks for keeping us company Rei. It feels good to talk to a _real_ person after such along time." She smiled sweetly at him before turning away again. Sharpner lightly punched his shoulder as he passed and Erasa winked and blew him a kiss. As Vivian passed she briefly made eye contact and blushed. She joined her friends surrounded by guards and left, the scent of her rose perfume lingering.

Rei bowed slightly as they walked off, but his eyes never left Vivian's retreating figure. He watched them until he could no longer see them, then, shaking off an unfamiliar feeling in in his chest, he assessed the current situation. More than four fifths of the energies that were there before were now gone, Rei decided to go help his boss pack up, grab is sisters and go home.

Xx0o0xX

 **For those of you wondering, bougainvillea has the biggest thorns of the three plants mentioned, usually on the magnitude of being spines. Pride of Barbados is a flowering legume tree with some nasty little thorns that are almost impossible to avoid.**


End file.
